Currently, in order to provide location services for a digital camera for the purpose of automating location tag creation for images, the camera must have some location sensors, such as a GPS receiver or cell phone with location detection. A central database can then review the image to determine what tags should be attached at a later time (the GPS or other location codes are stored in the image as tags for retrieval later).
An example of such a system available is the Caplio Pro G3 digital camera by Ricoh that is capable of automatic image geo-coding. A CompactFlash WAAS GPS card plugs into a slot in the camera and captures location data as the user takes pictures and stores the data in the images. Alternatively, a Bluetooth adapter allows the camera to communicate with a Bluetooth GPS unit for capturing the location data. The camera comes equipped with a desktop application called “GPS-Photo Link.” Once the geo-coded images are downloaded to the user's desktop, the GPS-Photo Link application creates GPS watermarks for the images. The user may also insert a CompactFlash WiFi 802.11b card into the camera for wireless communication for the purpose of downloading the images from the camera to a PC or PDA via FTP or e-mail.
Another example of a system that associates digital images with a photographer's location is a GPS equipped PDA called coyotEYE by Lupine Logic, Inc. of Missoula, Mont. The CoyotEYE product includes an iPAQ PDA by HP of Palo Alto, Calif., add-on hardware by Nexian, Inc. (theNexiCAM and NexiGPS hardware), and a choice of SyBASE iAnywhere or MS Access database engine.
Although integrating a GPS unit into the camera eliminates the need for the user to carry a separate GPS unit, the use of GPS units with handheld digital image capture devices has several disadvantages, which includes being bulky, expensive, and energy inefficient. For example, FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the Ricoh camera 500 with an attached GPS CompactFlash card 502. Also shown is an example image 504 watermarked with the GPS data. As shown, the GPS CompactFlash card 502 inserted into the Ricoh camera 10 extends well outside of the camera housing, which is unwieldy to use. Similarly, the GPS antenna of the coyotEYE PDA extends well past the PDA housing. In addition, the Ricoh camera/GPS/software bundle lists for $1199, with the GPS card 502 contributing $160, and the coyotEYE PDA lists for $849.99. It is unclear how many users, other than hard-core enthusiast, will be willing to pay such a premium to have their images stamped with location data.
In the future, it is expected that the use of GPS units in handheld digital image capture devices will become ubiquitous as advances in hardware make the GPS units smaller, less expensive, and more energy-efficient. In the meantime, however, a need exists for a method and system for establishing the location of digital images that does not suffer the limitations present with today's GPS technology. The present invention addresses such a need.